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Part Time Education in 
Indianapolis 



"A Life Without a Career is a Calamity to Any Youth" 

PROFESSOR PAUL HANUS 



Prepared by the Committee on Education and approved by 

the Board of Directors of Indianapolis 

Chamber of Commerce 

INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST, 1914. 






SUMMARY. 



1. Part time education, as used in this report, means first, 
vocational education for young persons who are engaged in 
profitable employment and who receive during their working 
hours, instruction in the part time school, supplementary to the 
practical work carried on in their employment and second, edu- 
cation which seeks to train young workers in unskilled positions 
so as to enable them to enter more promising occupations. 

2. Fully 10,000 youths have left the schools during the last 
five years between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years without 
a grammer school education and without vocational preparations 
to fit them for the task of making a living. There are fully 23,000 
youths in Indianapolis between fourteen and twenty-one years of 
age, inclusive, who have not had vocational preparation and who 
are not receiving organized instruction in any school of any 
grade. The great majority of these young people had less than 
a seventh grade education. 

3. These young people enter mostly into unskilled jobs 
which offer little opportunity for further training and which lead 
to nothing better. They are "blind alley jobs," which leave the 
young man or woman at maturity incapable of earning more than 
a child's wage. 

4. These children who most need the ministrations of edu- 
cation, should not be neglected and abandoned because, for any 
reason, they have left school and gone to work and it should be- 
come the duty of a truly democratic system of education to make 
every effort to educate every child whether within or without 
school halls. At bottom the movement for vocational training 
largely through part-time schools is an attempt to make the 
schools efficient by meeting the educational demands and rights 
of all the children of all the people. 

5. The apprenticeship system, as a means of preparation 
for industrial work, has largely broken down and the means for 
the development of all-round workers must be found outside the 
shop. Great masses of workers have become mere automatons, 
who know single machine processes and have little chance for 
advancement. At the same time industries are calling for a wider 
and more practical industrial intelligence. 

6. To properly prepare our youth for a life work and to 
meet the needs for successful industry, requires new forms of 
school and methods of training. The establishment of vocational 
schools for pupils who are still in school will hold many for a 
longer period of time and give them a broader industrial and 
social intelligence, but the real problem is to reach the boy or 
girl who, for any reason, has gone to work. Those who have had 



experience will be most teachable because most young workers 
must have experience and work to convince them of the value 
and need of vocational training. Experience teaches them that 
broader knowledge gives steadier employment and insures a more 
certain promotion. 

7. Evening schools cannot fulfill the needs. Young workers 
cannot attend the evening schools with profit. Attendance on 
evening schools requires such energy, ambition and vigor as few 
possess. The solution, as far as the young worker is concerned, 
must be in part time education in day schools which take regular 
time from the daily employment of young workers. 

8. Some of the objects which part time education aims at 
are: (a) Training for better understanding of the specialized 
machines and modern factory work, (b) Training of unskilled 
workers to increase their interest and industrial intelligence and 
to develop capacity for advancement where opportunity for pro- 
motion exists, (c) Training which will give specific information 
along definite lines so that workers may, in a brief space of time, 
derive concrete benefits, (d) Training for those who are special- 
ized operatives to be the best specialists, (e) Training which will 
encourage young people to continue specialized courses and thus 
continue the usefulness of the school for a longer period ; (f ) train- 
ing for workers in juvenile occupations to enable them to gain en- 
trance into occupations suitable for adults ; (g) training to give a 
knowledge of industry to young boys and girls and to make 
practical application of the knowledge which they have secured ; 
(h) training in citizenship for all and in domestic science for all 
girls. 

9. Part time education is a practical and inexpensive form 
of education, using as it does principally the existing equipment 
of the school plant. It is the most efficient kind of education be- 
cause it has the life career motive for education, and for that 
reason children respond more readily to it. 

10. The Department of Attendance last year granted 1,992 
permits to work to boys and girls between fourteen and sixteen 
years of age. Six hundred seventy-five went to work in factories ; 
486 in stores ; 392 in delivering goods and running errands ; 41 in 
meat packing; 16 in telephone exchanges; 10 in millinery; 135 in 
house-work at home and outside ; miscellaneous, 139. 

11. The organization of part time courses should be so made 
as to fit into the scheme of industry. In some cases it would be 
best to take a period of a half-day or more a week ; in others an 
hour or two each day, while in others the most feasible plan 
would be to spend one week in school and one in employment. 
In some the dull season of the year or the dull period of the day 
could be utilized for classes of instruction. 

12. The city is authorized by the vocational education law 
to levy a tax not exceeding 10 cents on each $100 of taxable prop- 



erty and for the special purpose of supporting vocational educa- 
tion. The report herewith given recommends that a levy of 3 
cents on each $100 be made at once in order that the city may 
begin now to develop plans to meet the imperative needs for vo- 
cational education for the benefit of young workers. 

13. Part time education of an approved character which seeks 
to increase industrial efficiency will be, under the vocational edu- 
cation law, partly supported by the State — the State paying two- 
thirds the cost of teachers in such schools. 

PART TIME EDUCATION IN INDIANAPOLIS. 

Thousands of Children Not in School — There were in Indi- 
anapolis in 1910, 56,997 persons between the age of six and 
twenty, inclusive. At the same time, there were attending the 
schools 35,014 different individuals. Of this number approxi- 
mately 1,000 were either less than six or more than twenty-one 
years of age. Thus, in 1910, approximately 23,000 persons be- 
tween six and twenty years, inclusive, were not in attendance 
upon any private, public or parochial schools of any grade. A 
small part of these youths were prepared for a vocation or were 
in a position to acquire such preparation. Of the total the num- 
ber taking evening courses or correspondence courses was in- 
significant. 

There is no evidence to, indicate that any material change has 
taken place since the census figures disclosed these facts in 1910. 
Approximately all of these 23,000 persons were above the age 
of fourteen years and had left the schools for good, and were 
subject to no further influence from the schools. 

Many Permits Issued — Turning now to more recent figures, 
we get a nearer view of the problem. The Department of At- 
tendance reports for 1913-14 that under the new law requiring 
working certificates for persons between fourteen and sixteen 
years of age, there were issued by the department, permits to 
work to 857 different boys and 653 different girls — a total of 
1,510 persons between fourteen and sixteen years of age, who 
had quit school to go to work. Of this number, 152 boys and 
127 girls secured two certificates during the year; 40 boys and 
28 girls secured three certificates; 10 boys and 3 girls secured 
four certificates ; 2 boys and 1 girl received five certificates ; 2 
boys received six certificates, and one boy had the distinction of 
getting seven different jobs for which he secured working cer- 
tificates during the year. 

Thus, we find that between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, 
a total of 1,510 children were out of school and at work during 
a part or all of the year and that 482 of these children applied for 
two or more different working certificates during the year. Of 



these children, 503 boys and 375 girls were under fifteen years of 
age and 354 boys and 278 girls were between fifteen and sixteen 
years of age. At this rate there would be in five years 7,550 such 
children who had left the school between fourteen and sixteen 
years of age. The number for the last five years probably ex- 
ceeds 10,000, since no educational requirement before leaving 
school existed prior to the year 1913-14. 

Lack of Preparation — The grade of advancement of these 
children is significant. Twenty-nine boys and 13 girls were under 
the sixth grade; 265 boys and 136 girls were in the sixth grade; 
238 boys and 154 girls were in the seventh grade; 130 boys and 
116 girls were in the eighth grade, and 195 boys and 234 girls 
were above the eighth grade. The law requires the equivalent 
of a fifth grade education before a working certificate will be 
granted, hence the number quitting school before the sixth grade 
is very small, and these cases are based upon special conditions. 
It is important to remark here that since, prior to the year 1913- 
14, no such minimum requirement of education was made and 
pupils leaving school represented a much lower degree of 
education. 

Effects of Present System — If the young workers of fourteen 
to sixteen years of age who thus leave the schools to go to work 
and those above sixteen who leave the schools for employment 
or to loaf about, were prepared to enter intelligently an employ- 
ment which opened a way for individual advancement, there 
would be no great problem confronting the city in their behalf. 
But these children do not leave the school with such a prepara- 
tion. They can read and write, do ordinary arithmetic, have a 
little knowledge of geography and English, but they have little 
power to apply the slight knowledge which they have to the im- 
mediate problem of earning a living. The unfortunate part about 
the defection of these pupils from school is that they go into 
work which offers the highest immediate wage with no regard 
to the opportunities for education or personal advancement in the 
work they are doing. These boys and girls work at unskilled 
jobs; have no opportunity to learn a permanent vocation; and 
grow up to be men and women with no capacity to earn better 
than a child's wage. They find themselves in "dead end" jobs 
with no outlook; become discouraged; and join the great army 
of discontented. Hardly able to make a living wage, they form 
that great mass of people which stands on the verge of poverty. 
Most of these children have left the schools handicapped for life 
because they were deficient in the elementary school education 
which, in theory, the city has planned for the benefit of all, and 
deficient in vocational education which would fit them to be an 
independent economic unit in an industrial society. 



6 

Reasons for Leaving School — Why do these children leave 
school thus early? 

Some leave because economic pressure on the family requires 
them to go to work. Some because they have failed to measure 
up to academic tests set up by the schools. Some because they 
are unwilling to forego the attraction, so strong to many adoles- 
cents, of wage-earning and doing real work. Some because they 
and their parents do not feel that the schools have thus far suc- 
ceeded in offering the training which meets the needs of the pros- 
pective wage- worker; and some because of indifference and in- 
dolence and delinquency. 

Our Duty to Educate Them — Those children who most need 
the ministrations of education should not be neglected and aban- 
doned because, for any reason, they have left school and gone to 
work, and it must become the duty of a truly democratic system 
of education to make every effort to educate every child whether 
within or without school halls. At bottom the movement for 
vocational training largely through part time schools is an at- 
tempt to make the schools efficient by meeting the educational 
needs and rights of all the children of all the people. 

Conditions in Industries Changed — Specialization of industry 
has broken down in large part the apprenticeship system by 
which the young were formerly educated for industrial work. 
Great masses of workers have become mere automatons who 
know single machine processes and whose "way out" is limited 
by their lack of opportunity for education in other fields of indus- 
trial work. At the same time the advance of general knowledge, 
growth of science and progress in invention has brought a vast 
body of information in science, drawing, mathematics and art, 
necessary for the highest efficiency of the worker but which can- 
not be secured under present conditions in industry itself. The 
shop gives skill in processes ; the schools must give the supple- 
mentary education which makes the worker an all-round man. 

Industries Calling for Intelligence — All industries, even those 
employing unskilled help in large numbers, are calling for more 
general intelligence, by which they seem to mean not so much 
more general education of the kind which the school usually gives 
and which fails to help the learner reach any particular good, but 
a kind of training to be secured largely by teaching old things 
in a more vitalized way and in connection with real experience, 
which will give adaptability, interest and precision in the work in 
hand and a determination and ability to succeed in overcoming 
obstacles. 

Specialization of industry has, in most cases, reduced the cost 
of production by the employment of large numbers of workers, 
many of whom can neither read nor write. The knowledge of 
each is limited to his own operation or machine with no general 



understanding of the business as a whole. This has meant a lack 
of intelligence on their part as to the significance of their work, 
its relation to that of others and has made the task of the fore- 
man and superintendent in directing and supervising these work- 
ers increasingly difficult. 

New Schools and Methods Needed — To meet the needs of 
young people, who have gone to work improperly equipped with 
a working education, and to meet the needs of industry, require 
new forms of schools and methods of teaching. The establish- 
ment of vocational schools for pupils who are still in school and 
the vitalizing of the courses of instruction will hold many pupils 
in the school a longer period of time than in the past and give 
them a broader industrial and social intelligence. 

Part Time Schools as Compared With Others — But while the 
all-day vocational schools can do much, they cannot meet the 
whole need for vocational training. Most young workers must 
have experience and work to convince them of the need and value 
of vocational training. They must work long enough to realize 
their deficiency in education and to know the value of training 
along practical lines. They see by experience that broader knowl- 
edge gives steadier employment and insures a more certain pro- 
motion by enabling them to do many kinds of work in different 
departments or in different trades. 

Evening schools cannot fulfil the needs for young workers 
because young workers cannot attend evening schools with profit. 
The Massachusetts State Board of Education declares that "Even- 
ing attendance is on the whole a test of energy, ambition and 
vigor of the wage-earner to which many cannot conform. Ex- 
perience shows that while many may register in evening schools, 
a large proportion fail to attend throughout the term." This is 
particularly true of young workers. The solution must therefore 
be in part time education in day schools, which take regular time 
from the daily employment of young workers. 

Provisions of Law of 1913 — Fortunately, any plan for the de- 
velopment of this kind of education in this city is in harmony 
with the recent development of State legislation and proposed 
national legislation. The State of Indiana in 1913 provided that 
schools may give part time education and if given in an ap- 
proved manner, the State will pay two-thirds the cost of teachers. 
The law defines the part time plan of education as follows : "Part 
time class in an industrial, agricultural or domestic science school 
or department shall mean a vocational class for persons giving a 
part of their working time to profitable employment and receiving 
in the part time school or department instruction complementary 
to the practical work carried on in such employment. To give 
a part of their working time such persons must give a part of 
each day, week or longer period to such part time class during 



s 

the period in which it is in session." The law further declares 
that "Such instruction shall be of less than college grade and be 
designed to meet the vocational needs of persons over fourteen 
years of age who are able to profit by the instruction offered. 
Attendance upon such part time class shall be restricted to per- 
sons over fourteen and under twenty-five years of age." 

Federal Aid Proposed — The bill proposed by the Federal 
Commission on Vocational Education, which is now pending in 
Congress, with strong likelihood of passage, provides for an ap- 
propriation to aid the States in industrial or trade education and 
declares that "At least one-third of the sum appropriated to any 
State shall, if expended, be applied to part time schools or classes 
for young workers over fourteen years of age who have entered 
upon employment." 

State Aid and Scope of Work — In outlining the scope of the 
work for which State aid is to be given in Indiana, the State 
Board of Education has properly limited part time education to 
classes which give instruction in the line of work in which the 
student is regularly employed. On this point, they say "It will 
readily be seen that a part time class which seeks primarily to ex- 
tend general education facilities to young workers for the purpose 
of increasing their fund of general information or which aims to 
give workers vocational training designed to fit them for a higher 
or more remunerative occupation or trade does not fall within 
the scope or intent of part time classes as defined by our law to 
receive State aid for part time work. The school must give in- 
struction in the present wage-earning occupation of the pupils, 
instruction designed to make them more efficient and productive 
in that occupation or trade." The board states that "Schools 
which aim to advance the general intelligence of workers are 
highly desirable and are commended to local communities by the 
State Board." Thus, while part time education extends both to 
the increase of trade knowledge for the person who is at work, it 
also applies to the increase of general intelligence of the workers. 
Schools of this latter type, however, do not receive State aid. The 
reason for this may be stated that the most crying need at present 
is for an increase of vocational efficiency and the State law was 
aimed at that end. 

Purpose of Part Time Courses — The prime purpose of part 
time courses is that outlined by the law, namely, to give young 
persons who are employed a chance to improve themselves in 
their trade or calling. Such education will increase their indus- 
trial intelligence and skill. They will thereby be enabled to do 
their work more intelligently and skillfully ; they will understand 
its relation to the whole process and acquire such an understand- 
ing of the organization of the industry that promotion and higher 
positions will be possible. 



9 

Program Suggested for Indianapolis — The following pro- 
grams for part time education adapted from a program of the 
Massachusetts State Board of Education is suggested to meet 
the needs of this city : 

(1) Training for a better understanding of specialized ma- 
chines and for the development of manipulative skill as supple- 
mental to the work of the factory, such training to furnish a 
basis for the beginning of a broader training on other machines 
and the development of a wider industrial experience and intelli- 
gence. 



(2) Training for workers in the so-called unskilled indus- 
tries, to increase their interest and industrial intelligence and to 
develop capacity for advancement where opportunity for promo- 
tion exists. 

(3) Training which will give specific information along 
definite lines so that workers may in a brief space of time derive 
concrete benefits. 

(4) Training in domestic science for young housewives or 
others doing household work. 

(5) Training for those who are specialized operatives to be 
the best specialists possible. 

(6) Training which will make the pupil wish to continue 
in specialized courses so that the influence of the school may be 
exerted for a longer period than at present. 

In addition to the above work, which can be conducted by 
the city with the aid of the State, there should also be further 
attempts to train young workers for general industrial and civic 
work. There are numerous occupations in which the children 
are engaged which offer no life career, and every effort should 
be made to provide for youth so circumstanced so that they may 
enter into more skilled and promising occupations. As sugges- 
tions along this line for possible development, the following are 
given : 

(1) Training for workers in juvenile occupations which will 
enable them to gain favorable entrance to occupations suitable 
to adults. 

(2) Training in the commercial, office and selling side of 
the business in order to open careers in these lines for young 
workers. 

(3) Training for both boys and girls who leave school at 
an early age, to give a knowledge of industry and to show how 
to make practical application of the knowledge which they have 
secured. 



10 

(4) Training in citizenship for all and in domestic science 
for all girls who have not received such training in the public 
schools and who are temporarily employed in unskilled occu- 
pations. 

Passible Scope in Indianapolis — Fortunately, some data is at 
hand to indicate the possible scope of this work in Indianapolis. 
The Department of Attendance reports that the working certifi- 
cates issued during the year were for the following employments : 

Boys. Girls. 

Factories 373 302 

Stores 191 295 

Delivery work 126 

Running errands 157 

Messenger service 109 

Office 59 39 

Meat packing houses 41 

Telephone exchange 16 

Millinery 10 

Housework at home 112 

Housework away from home. ... 23 

Miscellaneous 84 55 

1,140 852 
Total 1,992 

By analyzing the occupations in which these young people 
have gone to work and others in which the young people between 
16 and 20 years of age are employed, it will be found that most 
of them offer opportunities for education which will fit the young 
for advancement. The kind of instruction which must be given 
to these workers must be suited to the particular industries and 
to the state of advancement of the pupils. Specific plans can only 
be determined by co-operation between the employers and the 
school authorities. The Chamber of Commerce will inaugurate 
at once a movement to bring together groups of employers repre- 
senting specific lines of work in which young workers are em- 
ployed for a conference with the school authorities for the pur- 
pose of working out plans for part time education. 

An analysis of the educational possibilities in each line of 
employment should be made and where little vocational advan- 
tages are offered, plans to provide more general training for bet- 
ter opportunities and for civic intelligence should be made. 

Expense Comparatively Small — Part time education can be 
given at less expense than any other kind of education. The 
plant is already equipped and all that is needed is the employ- 
ment of competent, practical teachers. The salaries of these 
teachers would be partly paid by the State. 



11 

Manner of Organizing Courses — The organization of part 
time courses should be so made as to fit most efficiently into the 
scheme of industry. In some cases it may be best to take a 
period of a half day or more a week; in others, an hour or two 
each day; while in others the most feasible plan would be to 
spend one week in school and one in employment. Some indus- 
tries also are best suited for giving instruction during the dull 
season. Thus courses in carpentering and plumbing could be 
conducted most efficiently in the season when large numbers of 
men in such trades are idle. Department stores have dull periods 
in each day, when a part of the young employees could be in the 
classes for instruction. There are already successful examples 
of machine shop co-operation with the schools in this city and 
employers and the schools are ready for further development. 

Part-Time Education Practicable — Experience has demon- 
strated that part-time education is practicable from the stand- 
point of the schools and the industries, requiring only slight 
readjustment on the part of each. Experience has also demon- 
strated that pupils respond splendidly to this new kind of vital- 
ized education and make good progress. 

Efficiency Increased — The increased efficiency of the em- 
ployees both for specific jobs and for general fitness more than 
compensate for the loss of time to the employer. Many efficient 
plans of organization can readily be devised in practice. 

Levy Recommended — The State law authorizes the city to 
levy a tax, not exceeding ten cents on each $100 of taxable prop- 
erty, for the special purpose of supporting vocational education. 
The Chamber of Commerce has recommended that a levy of at 
least three cents on the $100 be made to be available in the spring 
of 1915, in order that the city may begin at once to develop plans 
to meet the imperative needs for vocational education for the 
benefit of workers. A goodly share of this money should be used 
in the development of part-time education for young workers. 

Indianapolis can be put in the forefront of the cities of the 
nation by beginning now a comprehensive plan for vocational 
education. 



